Planned Parenthood pushes to make abortion a constitutional right in Wisconsin

Abortion could be in the middle of another political battle soon, as the nation’s largest abortion chain is seeking to make it a constitutional “right” in Wisconsin.

Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin has filed a petition with the state Supreme Court asking for abortion to be protected within the Wisconsin constitution. The abortion giant argued that the rights protected — “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” — include “the right to determine what one does with one’s own body, including whether and when to have a child.” They also asked for the constitution to include a right for doctors to commit abortions.

“Despite all the progress that’s been made to resume abortion care since the overturning of (Roe v. Wade), the protections afforded under Wisconsin’s Constitution remain unknown,” Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin president and CEO Tanya Atkinson told reporters. “Wisconsinites deserve the ability to make decisions that shape their future to make decisions about if or when they become a parent. And they deserve to know this right is protected by our state Constitution.”

READ: Live Action asks people on the street: ‘Is abortion homicide?’

Chief Strategy Officer Michelle Velasquez added that they are hoping to have the state’s 1849 law protecting preborn children from abortion permanently overturned and declared unconstitutional. “This petition is really asking whether the Constitution protects access to abortion,” she said during a video news conference. “We’re asking the court to basically say laws related to abortion would be subject to the highest level of scrutiny.”

After the fall of Roe in 2022, the 1849 law in question took effect, which stated: Any person, other than the mother, who intentionally destroys the life of an unborn child is guilty of a Class H felony. Dane County Circuit Judge Diane Schlipper then ruled in December of 2023 that the statute refers to feticide — an act of homicide against a fetus committed by someone other than the child’s mother — but not abortion. Planned Parenthood quickly resumed abortions at their three facilities in Wisconsin, but Sheboygan County District Attorney Joel Urmanski has already filed an appeal.

Heather Weininger, Executive Director of Wisconsin Right to Life, responded to the petition by arguing Planned Parenthood was concerned with profit above all else. “It was just a matter of time until Planned Parenthood brought this to the Supreme Court to disregard the lives of our preborn children for the sake of their bottom line,” she said. Gracie Skogman, Legislative and PAC Director of Wisconsin Right to Life, added, “A preborn child is a unique individual human life, deserving of protection and the right to life. While Planned Parenthood is fighting for unrestricted abortion until the moment of birth, the pro-life movement is fighting for compassionate support and services for mothers and their preborn children.”

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